Untainted Gifts

To the Editors of the Crimson:

In their February 12, 1985 letter to The Crimson, Robert Keane and Kelly Klegar argue quite wrongly that because contributions to the Senior Gift are carmarked for undergraduate programs, they beat no relationship to Harvard's investments in companies operating in South Africa. The truth of the matter is that Senior Gift donations directly support Harvard's South African investments by freeing up funds for the University's capital endowment which would otherwise be spent on current programs. It is disingenuous at best to assert that donations to the Senior Gift are untainted by the immorality of Harvard's investments in apartheid because they themselves are not directly invested.

The class of 1983 founded the Endowment for Divestiture because we wanted to provide our classmates with the opportunity to contribute to a university, which had abandoned its policy of profiting from racism. Therefore, we stipulated that every dollar contributed to the Endowment for Divestiture would be given to Harvard when it divested from its holdings in companies operating in South Africa. The Endowment for Divestiture allows us to express our commitment to Harvard by demonstrating the depth of our belief in the very values of justice and human rights, which have formed the bedrock of our undergraduate education. A contribution to the Endowment for Divestiture is thus both a gift and a meaningful message to Harvard. Attempts to portray the Endowment for Divestiture as a mere complement to the Senior Gift are fundamentally misguided. The Senior Gift supports Harvard's investment practices: the Endowment for Divestiture seeks to improve them. Tracy E. Sivitz '83